Camera Tracking: A Comprehensive Guide to Extracting Camera Motion

Do you know camera tracking enables text, graphics, or a visual effect like fire to follow a moving object in your video? You can also use it to censor a moving element, such as a license plate, or a figure in a camera. Although this may seem complex, it is pretty easy when you have the right video editing tool. So, would you like to discover the best software for camera tracking? Keep reading.

What is motion camera tracking

Camera tracking refers to the process of reproducing the movements of an object within a scene. The object can be a person, car, animal, ball, cloud, etc. It analyzes the movement frame by frame and creates a data path. You can then use this data to make another element not initially in the scene follow the same trajectory. The added element is seemingly attached to the moving object. For example, when showing a sports video, you can place an arrow above a player's head to help viewers follow the player as they move around the field. Motion tracking camera enables precise placement and movement of attached objects.

How to perform motion tracking of the camera with CapCut PC

The CapCut desktop video editor is a professional media editing tool and the best camera tracking software. It is suitable for motion tracking in business, social media, academic, and more types of videos. CapCut PC lets you precisely track face, hand, and body movements. This camera-tracking application is suitable for daily editing and has the power to handle intricate editing needs.

Key features

• An extensive collection of media resources: Use CapCut's stock videos as transitions for your footage, its filters to change the color of your video scene, and its soundtracks for your video background music, etc. Also, access its AI characters, text templates, stickers, and more.
• Abundant video editing tools: Leverage basic tools such as trim, crop, flip, mirror, rotate, reverse, etc., and advanced tools like masking and transcript-based editing for polishing your content. It also offers AI features like background removal, smooth slow-mo, retouching, and more.
• Share instantly: Upload your video and share it with your TikTok followers or YouTube audience without exiting the CapCut desktop editor.

Steps

Follow the link below to download and install the CapCut desktop video editor and use its camera tracking system to analyze motion elements.

Step
1. Upload
2. Launch the CapCut desktop video editor and click New Project to open the editing window. Drag and drop a video into the editor, or click the Import button and select your video. You can also upload a video by clicking Menu and File, Import. Besides, if you have no videos, leverage CapCut desktop's stock videos in the Library section under Media.
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Step
4. Track camera motion and edit
5. Add your video to the timeline track, right-click on it, and select Copy. Paste the video on the timeline, then drag it to a separate timeline track beneath or above the original video. Go to the right panel, select Tracking, and click Motion Tracking. Select the tracking direction.
6. Available options include forward, backward, and both. Also, turn on the scale and distance. Adjust the yellow box in the player window to outline the target object, then hit Start to begin camera tracking. Although this is a paid feature, you can still experience it on the free version, but you will need an upgrade to export.
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8. Besides motion tracking, the CapCut desktop editor has rich basic, advanced, and AI video editing features. You can trim, crop, reverse, mirror, mask, split scenes, use transcript-based editing, remove background, retouch, and more, all from the same editor. Moreover, this software offers abundant media resources. These include stock videos, audio for background music, video effects, transitions and filters, etc. There are AI characters you can use for text-to-speech and rich text templates for captions.
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Step
10. Export

Click Export at the top right and customize your video's title. Adjust the resolution up to 4K, bit rate, codec, format (MP4 or MOV), and frame rate up to 60 fps. Select Export Audio and choose a format to save an audio file of your video. Run a copyright check to avoid potential copyright infringements, then post your video on TikTok or YouTube without leaving the editor. When sharing on TikTok, select the 9:16 video size and allow comments, duets, and stitches.



The CapCut desktop video editor is available for Mac and Windows and is ideal for professional motion tracking. However, there are other widely recognized camera tracking apps available. Below are two more.

How to track the camera in After Effects

Adobe After Effects is a video editing application that provides sophisticated tools for motion tracking. It offers several tracker types, including 3D camera, point, and corner pin tracking, each catering to specific scenarios. After Effects camera tracking allows you to analyze and define an object's tracking points precisely. This software is available for Windows and macOS.

Step
1. Upload
2. Launch Adobe After Effects on your PC, then drag and drop your video into the editor. Alternatively, go to File, select Import, then click File if you want to upload a single video. If you wish to add multiple clips, select Multiple Files. Choose a video or videos using the file explorer, then click Import.
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Step
4. Track camera motion
5. Select your footage's layer, then go to Animation in the menu bar and click Track Camera. Set the track type to Camera in the tracker panel settings and start the footage analysis. Once the analysis is over, your video will have tracking points to help the software track each scene. You can adjust the tracking points for better accuracy. Go to Track Detail to access frame-by-frame tracking data and customize it.
6. Remember, the longer the footage, the longer tracking takes. Once you are satisfied with the track, you can add 3D models or text or recreate a scene using additional footage shot at a different angle. In addition, if your video has complex camera movements, consider adding multiple trackers.
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Step
8. Export

Once your video suits your preferences, go to File, then click Export. Customize the export settings such as resolution, output module, video codec, frame rate, bit rate, etc. Add a video name and adjust the output location, then click Export.



How to perform Blender 3D camera tracking

Blender is a simple, user-friendly video editor with 3D animation capabilities. It allows you to track the motion of an object or camera and apply the tracking data to 3D objects. The Blender camera tracker supports powerful 2D and 3D motion reconstruction tools, allowing you to integrate motion graphics. This software is available on Windows and Mac.

Step
1. Upload
2. Before camera tracking, we need to turn the footage into an image sequence. Launch Blender, click Video Sequencer and select Add to import a video. Navigate to the right menu, hit the Output tab, and choose PNG as the file format. Click Render, and select Render Animation in the top-left. Once this is done, open a new Blender instance, go to Movie Clip Editor, click Open, then select and add all the images from your clip. Preview the video. If it is too slow, hit the Prefetch button and click Set SceneFrames.
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Step
4. Track camera motion
5. Go to Tracking Settings. Under Motion Model, change Loc to Affine, check the Normalize box, and then adjust the correlation value to 0.9 under Tracking Setting Extra. You now need to add at least eight markers. To do this, press and hold the Ctrl key and right-click. Place the resulting small white squares over the footage you want to track. Press Ctrl + T to track the entire footage or Alt + Right-arrow to track one frame.
6. Then, go to Solve on the left and check the Keyframe box. Under Refine, adjust Nothing to Focal Length, Optical Center, K1, K2. Click Solve Camera Motion. Once you are satisfied with the tracked footage, go to Scene Setup and click Setup Tracking Scene to set up a 3D scene.
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Step
8. Export

Click the Export icon on the right and select a folder to export your video. Choose a file format, codec, container, resolution, encoding speed, etc. Next, go to Render and select Render Animation. Blender will then use the images to create a video file. Once rendering is done, you can find the video in your specified output folder.



Conclusion

Whether you prefer to use the CapCut desktop editor, Blender, or the 3D camera tracker in After Effects, you will get a precise output. Each tool provides accurate motion tracking suitable for object or camera tracking. However, the CapCut desktop editor is the most user-friendly tool with the shortest learning curve.

As a toolkit for professionals, it possesses incredible editing power and lets you do more besides motion tracking. Its suite of basic, advanced, and AI video editing features combined with rich media resources makes it a fantastic all-around video editor. Install the CapCut desktop video editor today for precise camera tracking and seamless editing.

FAQs

1. How can I do camera tracking in CapCut?
2. Camera tracking on the CapCut desktop editor is easy. Simply launch the editor and upload a video. Add your clip to the timeline track, duplicate it, and place the duplicate copy in a new track above the original video. On the right panel, go to Tracking, and select Motion Tracking. Choose a tracking direction, adjust the tracking points, and hit Start. That is all it takes! Download the CapCut desktop editor today for quick and straightforward camera tracking.
3. What is the best camera tracking software?
4. The CapCut desktop video editor is the best camera tracking software. It features impressive preciseness and requires no experience to leverage. The tracking points are easy to adjust, and you can easily select a tracking direction. Moreover, this software offers incredible video editing tools to enhance your video after camera tracking. Its media library lets you add soundtracks, filters, effects, stock videos, etc. Experience the CapCut desktop video editor for the most precise camera tracking.
5. How to do camera 3D tracking?
6. To do 3D camera tracking, you need motion tracking software and clear footage. Once you upload your footage, navigate to the camera tracking option and define the tracking points. This option is found in the Tracking section on the right panel in the CapCut desktop video editor. It also makes it easy to adjust the tracking points for precise analysis. The right video editing software makes camera tracking a walk in the park.
7. Hence, motion tracking and video production experts recommend you use the CapCut desktop video editor due to its professionalism and ease of use. Try it today.